This blog chronicles my year at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow

Last week I sent a note out to the Nieman Fellows letting them know that I was going to see the Legendary Roots crew Thursday night in Worchester and I would order tickets for anybody who wanted to go. I love the Roots and I think I might have seen them in concert more times than I have seen Prince, but I gotta confirm that. Tangelique didn’t want to go. She is apparently tired of The Roots. Go figure. Critic and hip-hop head Chris Vognar, who actually told me about the concert, couldn’t go. Margie’s mom was in town. Carla said she would go if Bebe Winan opened for them, which I took as a no. Julie wanted to go, but she was making a speech. Hannah Allam was down and agreed to drive. My man Thabo, who listened to a lot of American hip-hop in South Africa was down as well. He had heard of the Roots, but was not immediately familiar with their work. The final ticket would go to Kalpana Jain, our fellow from New Delhi. Kalpana had never been to a hip-hop concert. To put it in context, when we went whale watching, I gave her and Haili Cao, our Chinese fellow, a crash course on Marvin Gaye. On the drive to Worchester, I told her about ?uestlove, Black Thought, Kamal, Hub (who is not in the band anymore), Knuckles and the great Captain Kirk Douglass. I kept my eye on her at the show and Hannah made sure she stayed by her side. The Roots were in rare form as usual. Black Thought was on point and the band was tight. But the second half of the show, influenced by Kirk, had a heavy rock influence. Kirk is the best touring guitar player touring right now. I saw him do, Dylan’s, “Masters of War,” at a concert once and he brought the house down. The rock section actually started with the classic “You Got Me.” Without female accompaniment, Kirk usually sings the chorus, usually reserved for Badu or Jill Scott – which is cool. Then in break, Kirk launches into Guns & Roses “Sweet Child of Mind.” It was mind blowing and I envisioned how it must have been to witness Chuck Berry or Hendrix. Kalpana too was blown away by the artistry of Kirk and the whole performance of the Roots. On my to do list is to make her a Roots CD.